Easter

Easter has always been one of my favorite holidays.  The religious significance is beautiful and the springtime holiday always makes me feel so grateful to have survived a long winter.  For the past few weeks the kids have been reading a book about Jesus Christ and the resurrection.  Sometimes it is nice to focus on the most basic parts of the miracle.  It has been interesting to see what the kids understand, and how they interpret the story.  Luke has told me that he does not want to get nails in his hands and I have reassured him that only Jesus had to do that.  I have overheard Luke and Ruby talking about Judas several times and how he really likes money, they are pretty upset that he hurt Jesus.  Even though he talks about being resurrected, Luke has also been pretty concerned about dying.  He tells us routinely that he is not ready to go to heaven yet like Jesus, and that he only wants to go to heaven when he is old, and can go with all of us. Sounds like a pretty good plan to me. Sharing the blessings of Easter with my little family has helped me to remember just how wonderful the religious significance of the holiday really is.

My parents have always made sure we understood the true importance of Easter, but then have worked to make the secular side of the holiday so much fun.  This year Jarin and Jami were going to be camping on Easter and my parents (and the kids) couldn't stand the thought of not having an Easter egg hunt together, so we started the celebrations a week early with a pre-hunt to sharpen the hunting skills. The current age range of the kids is pretty much perfect and we had the best time watching them hunt and play together.

The best part of any celebration with my parents is the discovery of your "special surprise".  After they had all opened their eggs, eaten some candy, and played with their new toys, Ada organized a "thank you" which ended in a group hug.  So cute.

The cutest bunnies ever.

Fast forward a week to the official celebration of Easter.  We don't have a lot of beautiful sunrises, but it seemed perfect to start the day off like this.

After waking the kids, we started with a little celebration at home with surprises left for everyone in their Easter baskets.  Don't mind the jammies and bedheads.  

After a quick breakfast, we got the kids dressed in their new Easter outfits, then thought we would get a quick picture before heading to church.  I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it was anything but quick or easy.  Both Tim and I took a ridiculous number of pictures and tried every trick possible to get the kids to smile and look at us.  I'm glad we got a few that look the way I wanted, and then plenty more that show their personalities.  

 

After church we headed to Santaquin for another Easter egg hunt courtesy of Grandpa and Grandma. This week Jarin was gone, but Cory and Craig and their families were there, so my kids benefited with double hunts and double cousins.

Hey Brother!

What better way to end the day than with a little lizard surgery.

Thanks Cory!